Collect Moments, Not Things 🌎

🌸39🌸 📸: @manukeams

Hi!

Come with me to shoot @66wind99 and @plastiquetiara at the last tour date of The Serpents in New York City. #sidewalkkilla #nymphiawind #plastiquetiara

On January 13, the U.S. Supreme Court heard two cases addressing the legality of state laws banning transgender women and girls from participating in sports consistent with their gender identity. Outside the Court, two groups gathered: conservatives on the right and a pro-LGBTQIA+ crowd on the left. On the conservative side, people held up signs reading “save women’s sports,” while speakers focused on biology and narrow margins in athletic competition. On the LGBTQIA+ side, speakers argued that these policies are less about fairness and more about erasing trans identity altogether. Against this backdrop, I was commissioned by @genderlib to take film portraits of the queer and trans youth for @teenvogue . #sidewalkkilla #lexysviews #alexeykim #genderliberationmovement #teenvogue #transwomen #transkids #ussupremecourt #transathletes

2025 we did it! Since everyone’s doing a year recap, it felt only right to do one too. Mostly to give myself flowers, because… I really did that shit! 2026 will be my FOURTH year as a full-time creative. Whew. This life is hard, but I’ve never felt more free or fulfilled. The cover shot was taken by @mohawagri in San Francisco at the end of September. It truly takes gumption not just to persevere, but to thrive in a dog-eat-dog city like New York, especially as a freelance artist. Slide 2 — January. Asked back for the third year in a row as one of the in-house photographers for @sashavelour ’s NightGowns. As I’ve said before, NightGowns jump-started my freelance career, and I’ve never looked back. Slide 3 — February. Produced and directed a series of videos for @oribe for Black History Month. I shot the moving cam and handled post-production, excluding color and sound. Slide 4 — February. 2025 started with a bang. Finally got my paws on my very first printed Vogue feature. Slide 5 — March. Launched a web series called Killa’s Confessions, where we get to know people I’ve met over the years while documenting queer culture and community. The first seven episodes have already passed 600,000 views on IG alone. Slide 6 — April. Theeee icon @wond3rwoman1 asked me to photograph her very first ball. Like… WHAT. Slide 7 — May. My second magazine cover for @queerkentucky . So proud of this one. Slide 8 — May. Shot Halle freaking Berry for LaQuan Smith’s Met Gala debut. 🤯 Slide 9 — June. My first fragrance campaign for Marc Jacobs?! It ran in Macy’s leading up to Pride. I didn’t get to see it in person, but still… wild! Slide 10 — September. First American Vogue feature, photographing the trans women of Prince Faggot. Slide 11 — November. Returned to Mexico for the fourth year to celebrate muxes and Zapotec third gender culture. Every visit deepens my understanding of femininity and my relationship to it. Slide 12 — December. Closing out the year shooting drag Asian royalty in Times Square. Here’s to all our blessings doubling in 2026.

healing ❤️‍🩹

Oh hi! I’m back in Juchitán de Zaragoza for the fourth year in a row discovering my gender expression. Ive always been an effeminate child but I’ve been conditioned to hide it or feel bad for expressing myself naturally. It took me years to break down these narratives and rebuild myself as a confident person that’s finally loving themselves the way they are. My search for the truth started awhile back, but by coming to Juchitán and finding myself in the midst of the culture that celebrates its third gender called muxes changed everything for me. These photos of me were taken by a visiting photographer last year on my own camera. The outfit, and hair is by my dear friend @leyver328 and makeup by my dear friend @giodemkovich . #muxes #juchitandezaragoza

Snapped by @manukeams while photographing at @folsomstreet . I must say this fit in conjunction with my beast of a camera were pretty popular with other photographers. 😇 #folsomstreetfair

Hi 🤳: @manukeams

In 2020, the #VogueChallenge went viral after young Black Muslim model Salma Noor superimposed the Vogue logo over her portrait with the line: “Being Black is not a crime.” What began as a creative act quickly turned into a global statement as Black photographers and models reimagined themselves on Vogue covers to call out the lack of Black representation in fashion media. The movement grew amid the #BlackLivesMatter protests after the murder of George Floyd. I joined the challenge too, placing the Vogue logo over a photo I took of 15K people marching in the historic Brooklyn Liberation March for Black trans lives. As a queer immigrant of color, I called on Vogue to use its power to uplift marginalized artists. Five years later, I feel proud to have my first photo feature in @voguemagazine , not as a critique but as part of a story amplifying voices that deserve the spotlight. The piece centers the two trans women of the Prince F@ggot (@princefplay ) production: @nyomistewart and @rachel_crowl . Having documented the ballroom scene for almost a decade, it feels especially meaningful to share this story with @nyomistewart , someone who comes from the Ballroom community and who’s closing monologue flips the play on its head. Please see this play @studioseaview until November 9. Brilliantly written by @jordan.tannahill and then brilliantly directed by @mishachowdhury . Big thanks to @ayybrams_ for the beautiful article and @austinspero for bringing me on. Thanks @theniwokeup_ for the lighting assist. Shot at the beautiful @chezmargauxnyc . Full circle. #sidewalkkilla #lexysviews #alexeykim #princefaggot

This week I found out that I had a whole a$$ fragrance campaign for @marcjacobsfragrances all over Macy’s! Sadly when I got there to see it for myself it was already taken down. But thank you @moodisblack and @lolitaleopardbaby for the proof that it actually happened! Happy Pride to everyone who have been told their whole lives that they are good for nothing because they are different. #sidewalkkilla #lexysviews #alexeykim #marcjacobs #marcjacobsfragrances #happypride

Yesterday was one of the best days of my life for so many reasons I’m not going to dive into here. But it started off with me hanging out at Folsom East (hence the fit on the first image, thanks @stas.ginzburg for the photo). Then I caught the last performance of Goddess at Public Theater, which was beyond any possible words. And finished with dinner in my home turf Indochine. Blessed to be alive.